Virginia Home to More than 650 New Afghan Refugees

Afghanistan People

Virginia has taken in more than 650 refugees from Afghanistan in the past five months as that nation continues to reel after President Joe Biden’s 2021 withdrawal of American troops.

According to a report on refugee resettlement from October 2023 through February, 655 Afghanis now call Virginia home. That is the most of any country of origin for the 1,295 refugees recently resettled in Virginia.

Read the full story

Nearly 40 Percent of Ohio’s Refugee Arrivals Are from Congo

Congo People

Nearly 40 percent of the refugees resettled in the state of Ohio by the federal government since October 2023 come from one of the poorest, most war-torn nations on earth.

According to a report on refugee resettlement by state, 645 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been resettled in Ohio over the past five months, dwarfing the number of refugees from any other country.

Read the full story

Commentary: Biden Takes Another Step Towards War, Sends ‘War Powers Resolution’ Letter to Congress

Late Friday, the favorite time for the Deep State to announce potentially troublesome information, the Biden administration announced it had sent a “War Powers Resolution” letter to Congress.

To somewhat oversimplify, the letter is required by the post-Vietnam War Powers Act that requires the President to notify Congress when American military forces engage with enemy forces, in this case Iranian-backed militias in Syria.

Read the full story

DeSantis Signs Bill Blocking Chinese Property Ownership Near Military Installations

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Monday a bill that would block Chinese ownership of agricultural land and property near military installations, the latest state to crack down on Communist Party control of U.S. sites.

The law prohibits anyone from China and other totalitarian regimes, including Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, from having a stake in any property within 10 miles of Department of Defense installations or critical infrastructure. A separate bill, also signed into law Monday, creates additional hurdles for foreign ownership of private schools after federal lawmakers raised red flags over Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ties to a private Florida high school operating a military pre-enlistment program.

Read the full story

Gaetz Introduces Resolution Forcing House Vote on Removing U.S. Troops from Syria

Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced a resolution to force the House to vote on directing President Joe Biden to remove the U.S. military from Syria, where they have been involved since 2014, the Florida Republican congressman’s office announced Wednesday. 

Gaetz, a House Armed Services Committee member, filed the one-page War Powers Resolution on Tuesday after four U.S. servicemembers and a working dog were wounded in a raid that resulted in the death of a senior Islamic State leader.

Read the full story

Commentary: Obama/Biden Team Empowered Terrorist Networks in Syria

Hours after the Feb. 3 U.S. military raid in northern Syria that left the leader of ISIS and multiple family members dead, President Biden delivered a triumphant White House address. 

The late-night Special Forces operation in Syria’s Idlib province, Biden proclaimed, was a “testament to America’s reach and capability to take out terrorist threats no matter where they hide around the world.”

Read the full story

State Department to Waive Fees for Immigrants Denied Visas During Travel Ban to Reapply

The State Department will waive fees for immigrants seeking visas to come to the U.S. if they were previously denied one because of the Trump administration’s travel ban, according to a Wednesday announcement.

“An IV applicant who is the beneficiary of a valid immigration petition may submit another visa application after being refused and in most circumstances they are required to pay again the relevant application fees,” according to a Federal Register rule published Wednesday. “The Department exempts from such fees only those IV applicants who are applying again after being refused” a visa under the travel ban.

The ban prevented immigration from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. President Joe Biden issued an executive order repealing the ban on his first day in office in January 2021.

Read the full story

Commentary: This Horrible Fiasco Demands Change

It might seem that there is little to be added to what the whole world has witnessed viewing the unutterable shambles of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan. But that would be an illusion. The story of the perilous departure from Afghanistan of NATO forces and civilians and their Afghan collaborators who are now in mortal danger is obviously a matter of great suspense. The United States could certainly tell the Taliban government of Afghanistan that if all those whom the Western powers wished to evacuate were not allowed to leave it would be an act of war. If there were the will to act on that ultimatum, it would be successful.

But under the circumstances, the credibility of such a threat would probably have to be proved by acting on it. As some commentators have mentioned, this would be morally justified and is morally required and the administration would simply have to accept that it has bungled the withdrawal, and must execute an immediate but brief return. The Biden Administration, after seven months, has shown no competence whatever in foreign or national security policy.

Read the full story

Exclusive: Gold Institute Founder Says Biden’s Foreign Policy Rejects Trump’s Successful Style, Substance

The founder and president of the Washington-based Gold Institute for International Strategies told the Star News Network that President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s foreign policy is doomed to fail, because unlike President Donald J. Trump, Biden treats the world as an extension of Washington’s Swamp.

“What President Trump realized is that Washington and the way Washington works is really only acceptable—I didn’t say good—I said it is acceptable—is on domestic matters,” said Eli Gold, who worked for worked in Washington’s think tank world for more than 10 years, before launching the Gold Institute May 2019.

Read the full story

27,000 Children Stranded in Refugee Camps ‘at Risk of Radicalization’ by ISIS, UN Official Says

Around 27,000 children, many with parents who are affiliated with ISIS, remain in a refugee camp in northeastern Syria, the United Nations counterterrorism chief said, the Associated Press reported Saturday.

The thousands of children “remain stranded, abandoned to their fate” where they are exposed to ISIS and are “at risk of radicalization within the camp,” said Vladimir Voronkov, the undersecretary general for counter terrorism at the U.N., during an informal meeting on Friday, the AP reported. He added that there are children from 60 countries at the camps who need to be repatriated.

Read the full story

US-Backed Forces Raiding ISIS Cells in Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forces are executing a new series of raids against active ISIS-affiliated militants in eastern Syria with the support of the U.S., VOA News reported Sunday.

The new campaign targets ISIS remnants in the Deir al-Zour province near Iraq, VOA News reported. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military alliance is focusing on ISIS cells in the northern part of the province.

Read the full story

Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey: ‘We Were Always Playing Shell Games’ to Hide the Number of U.S. Troops in Syria

James Jeffrey – who is retiring from his posts as the Special Representative for Syria Engagement and Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS – reportedly said that “shell games” have been used to avoid telling U.S. leaders the true number of American troops in Syria.

“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said, according to Defense One.

Read the full story

Minnesota Man Faces Terror Charge for Allegedly Joining ISIS

A Minnesota man accused of joining the Islamic State group has been returned to the United States and faces a terrorism charge after spending more than a year in Syrian custody with alleged IS fighters, according to documents unsealed Wednesday.

Abdelhamid Al-Madioum, 23, made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, appearing via video from a cell. Authorities say he was vacationing with his family in Morocco in 2015 when he secretly booked a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, and then traveled to Iraq and Syria, where he joined IS.

Read the full story

Americans Not ‘Buying’ Democrats’ Impeachment Narrative, Rep. Burchett Tells C-SPAN

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) on Wednesday appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” call-in program to discuss the impeachment inquiry. He blamed a “cocky attitude” among some in the State Department and said they are upset over not being involved in President Donald Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Read the full story

Commentary: Turkey’s Invasion of Syria Tests NATO Alliance, Advises Caution

On Oct. 6, the Office of the White House Press Secretary released a statement that after a telephone conversation by President Donald Trump with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”

Read the full story

Washington Correspondent, Neil McCabe from One America News Network Talks to the Tennessee Star Report About President Trump’s Recent Syria Decision

On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Leahy welcomed weekly guest and One America News Network’s, Neil McCabe to the show to talk about President Trump’s recent decision to remove US troops from Syria.

Read the full story

Trump Says Islamic State Territory in Syria Nearly Eliminated

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the last pocket of the Islamic State’s land in Syria would be liberated by U.S.-backed forces “by tonight.” Trump previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters re-emerged. With no signs of fighting on Wednesday, however, the long-running battle to retake the militants’ last outpost in eastern Syria appeared to have reached its conclusion. “The caliphate is gone as of tonight,” Trump said in a speech at a factory in Lima, Ohio, where military tanks are assembled. End of caliphate The complete fall ofBaghuzwould mark the end of IS’s self-declared caliphate, which at its height stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq. During his speech, Trump held up two maps of Syria — one covered in red representing territory held by the militant group when he was elected president in November 2016 and the other that had only a speck of red. “When I took over, it was a mess. They were all over the place — all over Syria and Iraq,” said Trump, who has said the U.S. will keep 400 troops in Syria indefinitely. For the past four years, U.S.-led forces have waged a destructive campaign against…

Read the full story

Sen. Blackburn Urges President Trump to Protect Kurdish Allies as America Looks to Leave Syria

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) on Thursday sent a letter urging President Donald Trump to protect the United States’ Kurdish partners in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Blackburn posted a copy of the letter on Twitter, tweeting, “This morning, I joined @SenDuckworth in writing a letter to the president to express the importance of protecting our Kurdish friends as the administration plans its withdrawal of American troops from Syria.” “The protection of our Kurdish friends and allies is in the national security interest of the United States,” said Blackburn. “The Kurds have been a reliable partner in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and we must not abandon them now.” Nashville is home to the largest Kurdish population of any city in the United States, Blackburn said. The letter comes as the administration considers a withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Syria. Blackburn and Duckworth are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The White House officially announced Dec. 19 that nearly 2,000 U.S. troops would leave Syria, Townhall reported. “Five years ago, ISIS was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate. These…

Read the full story

Three Michigan Residents Arrested After Pledging Their Support to ISIS

Three Michigan residents were arrested Monday afternoon for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and pledging their allegiance to the terrorist organization, the Department of Justice announced this week. According to a DOJ press release, Muse Abdikadir Muse, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, and Mohamed Salat Haji were arrested Monday by members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Muse Abdikadir Muse was taken into custody at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids where he was attempting to board a flight to Mogadishu, Somalia with intention of joining ISIS. His two coconspirators drove him to the airport and were arrested shortly after. MLive reports that undercover investigators began monitoring the three in April 2016 in response to questionable Facebook posts they had made, and began communicating with the ISIS aspirants via social media. One of the agents posed as an ISIS recruiter, and was told by Muse Abdikadir Muse that he “wanted to join ISIS in Raqqa, Syria,” and that “he planned to die with a gun in his hand fighting for ISIS,” according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan. The complaint reveals that the three men exchanged numerous Facebook…

Read the full story

Commentary: Better Ways to Fight Extremism in Syria Than Endless War

by Austin Mulka   Yesterday I posted a status in unequivocal support of President Trump’s recent decision to pull out of Syria. The post elicited the abhorrent wails of the president’s purported supporters, one of whom denounced me as a supporter of “child killers.” As baseless as the claim was, empathizing with an opponent’s argument is the most efficient means of coming to mutual understandings of disagreement. Ultimately, those in opposition to pulling out of Syria firmly believe that military intervention is a principled position against the murder of children. As such, any opposition to this position, such as my own, must indicate its reciprocal support. Insofar as I am unequivocally against the murder of children, I hope to explain why military intervention is not the most effective means of fighting the Islamic regime and three alternatives to war with proven effectiveness. Journalism First and foremost, I would like to state that I am not a supporter of the Islamic regime in Syria. In The Home That was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria, Arab-American journalist Alia Malek details her first-hand accounts of horrendous acts and grievances by the Syrian regime. Having lived in both Syria and the United States,…

Read the full story

Commentary: The Numbers Support Trump’s Decision to Leave Syria

by Gunnar Heinsohn   Proclaim victory and pull out! On December 19, Donald Trump tweeted his own version of this classic military maxim as the president announced the withdrawal of America’s 2,000 soldiers from the war against the ISIS caliphate in Syria. Allies reacted with shock. Enemies mocked and gloated. Neither reaction should come as a surprise. The president’s defenders emphasize that America has nothing to show for the $7 trillion it has spent on this war. The United States, they say, has much greater concerns at home and in East Asia. Few analysts, regardless of how they feel about America’s withdrawal from Syria, understand why such conflicts drag on and on, despite enormous losses. Historians and journalists rarely examine the demographic data that explain why deadly wars can last for decades or centuries. Even the killing ground of Europe from 1500 to 1945 escapes their attention. And when it comes to Syria, they are utterly clueless about the link between rapid demographic growth and the long and bloody wars that have devastated this region. Explosive population growth results in explosions on the battlefield. Between 1900 and 2015, Islam’s global population increased by a factor of nine, from 200 million…

Read the full story

Commentary: Our Globalist Congress Cares More About Securing Syria Than Securing Our Own Southern Border

by Robert Romano   Congress apparently cares more about securing Syria than securing the U.S. southern border by building the wall. That’s about all that can be taken away from some of the Congressional outcry against President Donald Trump who has announced the U.S. will be withdrawing troops from Syria — something Congress never authorized in the first place. Trump in a tweet stated that U.S. objectives in Syria have been met: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” In another tweet, Trump warned that if Islamic State returned, they’ll get hit: “I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!” We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018 ….Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says, because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us. I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)…

Read the full story

Commentary: Merry Christmas – We’re All Gonna Die (Again)!

by Thaddeaus G. McCotter   One of the less salubrious effects of the anti-social network is how everything and anything is deemed the end of the world and, logically, the end of humanity. True, to the Regressives, the end of humanity does not mean the end of the world but, rather, a reprieve from us for Goddess Gaia. But why quibble and ruin the spirit of the season? Speaking of ruining the spirit of the season, to paraphrase President Ronald Reagan: “Well, here we are again.” Here at home, the Dow is down and the Donald’s ire is up. The government is shut down over the issue of funding for the southern border wall. General Michael Flynn was in court for sentencing and is still not sentenced. Michael Cohen is going to jail and the president has discussed the case with his acting attorney general, causing within the political class an outpouring of narcissistic panic about the fate of our free republic not seen since lunch. Naturally, the hashtag “#TrumpResign” is trending number one, because the onanistic resistance has mystically divined that this is the silver bullet that will make the bane of their existence pick up his money bags…

Read the full story

Commentary: Trump is Smarter Than the Generals

by Christopher Roach   A bipartisan consensus among the foreign policy elite holds that America needs to maintain its de facto overseas empire. This includes both preserving stability, as well as fomenting deliberate instability, including regime change in places like Syria. This consensus among elected officials, defense contractors, general officers, talking heads, and various experts is not shared by the vast majority of Americans, who elected Barack Obama and Donald Trump on their promises to end “stupid wars” and put America first. The American people have good instincts on these matters. The Confused Syria Campaign Our Syria campaign has been a confused affair from the beginning. In the waning days of the Arab Spring, Obama supported various rebel factions seeking to oust Bashar al-Assad, as he had earlier in Libya and Egypt. Syrians soon found themselves in the midst of a brutal civil war, and in this vacuum—as in Iraq only a decade earlier—jihad tourists from all over the Middle East soon joined the fray. The various enemies of the Syrian regime included the so-called “moderate” rebels, Kurds, and Sunni extremists, the latter of which were divided between al Nusra and ISIS. There are no obvious good guys here, and…

Read the full story

President Trump: Mattis Leaving at the End of February

President Trump said in a duo of tweets Thursday afternoon that Defense Secretary James Mattis will leave the administration early next year. “General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years,” he tweeted, adding: During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment. General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. A new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his service! ….equipment. General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. A new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his service! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2018 The president’s announcement comes on the heels of his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, fulfilling a long-standing campaign promise. THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY…        

Read the full story

White House Says US Will Start Withdrawing Troops From Syria

by Wayne Lee   The White House said Wednesday the United States has begun withdrawing troops from Syria, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted the U.S. has defeated the Islamic State terror group there. “We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign,” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said in a statement. She added the defeat of ISIS does not mean the military campaign by coalition forces is ending in Syria. “The United States and our allies stand ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary, and we will continue to work together to deny radical Islamist terrorists territory, funding, support, and any means of infiltrating our borders,” Sanders said. Later on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said in a statement that “the coalition has liberated ISIS-held territory, but the campaign against ISIS is not over.” ISIS an acronym for the Islamic State terror group. “We will continue working with our partners and allies to defeat ISIS wherever it operates,” she said, giving no details as to a timeline, noting “force protection and operational security reasons.” Just last week, U.S. special presidential envoy for the global…

Read the full story

While Media Focuses on Khashoggi, Hundreds of Journalists Believed to Have Been Killed in Syria

by Joe Simonson   The disturbing slaying of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian agents has rightfully garnered the attention of the national press. Yet the hours of coverage surrounding The Washington Post contributing columnist’s grim fate raises the question of why the hundreds of other journalists who have perished at the hands of dictators, such as Bashar al-Assad’s Syria — have not received similar concerns from America’s chattering class. Depending on the organization, the number of journalists or members of the media killed in Syria range from 123 to nearly 700. According to the American-based Committee To Protect Journalists, 18 of its estimated 123 reporters killed were murdered at the hands of the Syrian government or various rebel groups. Other groups, such as the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), believe the number killed from March 2011 to May 2018 is as high as 682. In addition, the SNHR believes as many as 1,116 journalists have been detained. A boy stands near a wall of his school riddled with holes, due to what activists said was an air strike carried out yesterday by the Russian air force in Injara town, Aleppo countryside, Syria. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi. The SNHR also claims 556 of those murdered…

Read the full story

Pentagon Preparing for Shift in Syrian Strategy

The United States is preparing to shift its approach in Syria, pledging to help with the initial recovery following the collapse of the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate. U.S.-backed forces liberated the terror group’s Syrian capital of Raqqa in October. Since then, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have focused their efforts on eradicating remnants of Islamic State.

Read the full story

Pentagon Alarmed by Uptick in Close Calls with Russia Fighter Jets in Syria

The Pentagon is voicing growing alarm that the risky flying of Russian pilots in Syria could lead to a mishap — or even the nightmare scenario of a US jet shooting down a Russian warplane. Defense officials this week highlighted several recent close calls with Russian planes, including one Wednesday where a pair of US F-22s intercepted two Russian jets over a part of Syria the Pentagon says they are not meant to be operating in.

Read the full story

Trump Administration May Be Inching Toward ‘Regime Change’ in Syria, Iran and Venezuela

The Trump administration and Congress appear to be inching toward policies of regime change in at least three countries — Iran, Syria and Venezuela — in what would be a dramatic reversal of the non-interventionism that Donald Trump advocated during the campaign. In a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on June 14, Secretary of…

Read the full story